Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative brain disease that has been observed in individuals who have experienced repetitive head trauma or brain concussions, such as professional athletes, military personnel, and competitive race car drivers. It has also been observed in individuals who play non-professional or recreational sports, accident victims, and those who participate in certain types of work-related activities. Repetitive trauma to the brain can cause a progressive degeneration of the brain tissue and an increase in an abnormal tau protein in brain tissue. These effects can begin months, years, and even decades after a last concussive event to the brain. Some evidence has shown that it can take up to 3-4 weeks to fully recover from the symptoms of a concussion. Recovery may not preclude the later development of CTE, particularly if there are repeated concussive events.
There has been a significant increase is efforts to diagnose brain concussions early, so that steps can be taken to ameliorate the effects. Different types of athletic, work, and military gear have been modified and tested with various types of sensors and electronic devices to detect rapid changes in direction and impact of the head or other parts of the body. While shown to be effective, most of these devices require some type of electrical connection or secondary remote device for detection or operation of the sensors. Football, baseball, lacrosse, and military helmets have all been tested with various sensors implanted into the helmets that transmit information to another device about the types and amounts of forces exerted on the helmet, which can translate to the wearer. While effective for detecting traumatic head impact, these devices require sensors to be connected to a secondary device and some systems require multiple sensors to be implanted into the helmet or other equipment for detection of different axial forces in order to determine the force of an impact.
Unfortunately, the cost of most of these sensor devices and the complexity of implementation deter their use by anyone other than professionals. Thus, it may not be possible or cost effective for elementary, high school, recreational, or non-professional athletes to obtain and use this type of advanced equipment. There is a need for a shock sensing device, shock sensor, or shock detector, that can be easily and cost-effectively integrated into a variety of types of wearable devices and equipment. It would be further advantageous if such shock sensors could be easily monitored by the wearer or other individuals without the need for additional or secondary devices.